Post on 15-Jun-2020
Right to Education Project 2014 1
Privatisation of education is a complex topic that is often supported or denounced based on
ideological grounds rather than clear, objective evidence. There is an over-arching trend across
many areas of public policy to move towards greater privatisation of public services, including
education. As with other human rights issues, there are concerns that some privatisation initiatives
may hinder steps towards fully realising the right to education and in some cases privatisation
efforts may lead to violations of the right to education. International human rights law provides an
objective frame of analysis to help guide policy-makers and civil society actors to assess education
privatisation and to formulate strategies for protecting the right to education and ensuring that
students and teachers are at the centre of education policies. This training module seeks to uncover
how the right to education may be impacted by privatisation and explores methods for challenging
privatisation that negatively impacts education rights.
At the end of this session participants will have gained an awareness of:
1. Develop an understanding of the right to education
2. Become familiar with the key State obligations concerning the right to education
that may be affected by privatisation
3. Gain and understanding of education privatisation, including the forms and
processes that may impact the right to education
4. Practically apply the right to education to scenarios and consider the implications
5. Explore strategies for applying a human rights based approach to education
privatisation
Session Title Time* Activity
A. Opening and Introductions 15 minutes Introductions and review
MODULE – PRIVATISATION AND THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
RATIONALE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
SESSION OUTLINE
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of agenda B. Introduction to the Right to
Education 25 - 30 minutes Presentation
C. What is Privatisation? 25 – 30 minutes Presentation and discussion
D. The Obligations of the State 2 hours Presentation, group exercise and discussion
E. Applying Human Rights: Situation Analysis
1.5 hours Group exercise
F. Privatisation in Your Community
1.5 hours Discussion
G. A Human Rights Response to Privatisation
1 hour Presentation and discussion or group exercise
H. Conclusions and Wrap-Up 15 minutes Discussion Total Time: 7.5 hours
* Please note that the times are approximate and sessions may be shortened or extended.
Notes to Facilitator
The times for each session of the module are flexible, as they may be shortened or extended
according to the needs of the participants. Discussions will be richer if sessions are
extended and participants are allowed more time for discussion. However, this module is
designed to cover the minimum amount of content required to cover the topic adequately.
The training design works best as a two-day training, though it may be delivered in 1.5 days.
As a recommendation, Session E (Situation Analysis) can be a good stopping point for Day 1,
as the group discussion may take place in the afternoon of Day 1 and the presentations to
the wider group from that exercise may serve as the first session of Day 2. It is
recommended that a short recap session is held at the start of Day 2 to help participants
remember key points from Day 1.
The module is intended to be participatory and flexible to ensure that the facilitator adapts
it to the learning needs of participants. However, it is important to note that training
modules that cover the substantive content of human rights law will require a certain
amount of presentation in order to review the relevant legal standards and mechanisms for
addressing human rights issues, so that the law can then be applied to specific contexts.
The presentations in this module are deliberately short and include general discussion
questions to introduce interactive elements. However, the facilitator may wish to include
additional discussion questions to build in further interactive components, depending on
the expectations and needs of the participants. It may also be helpful to assign pre-course
reading to improve the quality of the discussions and to provide participants with
background materials on human rights law. Suggested readings are provided in the section
below on Preparation.
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This document serves as the facilitator’s main module notes. It contains a session-by-
session breakdown of activities, including presentations, discussion questions, and group
exercises. The presentation slides are prepared in the PowerPoint presentation. The notes
of the presentation (i.e., the content and substance of the presentation) are provided in this
Word document, which combines the information which may be read to participants as a
presentation or adapted by the facilitator. The content of the presentation is numbered
according to the corresponding PowerPoint slide. This document also contains discussion
questions and group exercises, which may also be adapted according to the needs of the
participants.
Although this module is designed to be delivered by non-legal education experts, it is
strongly advised that the facilitator reads all of the materials in advance of delivering the
training, as the facilitator may wish to make some adjustments and deepen their
understanding of the topic. Some suggested pre-course readings and additional resources
are provided below, but if the facilitator has questions on the topic in advance of delivering
the module, the Right to Education Project (RTE) may be contacted at info@right-to-
education.org to provide technical support.
PREPARATION, MATERIALS AND RESOURCES
Preparation:
Before delivering this module, the facilitators should familiarise themselves with a few
key human rights legal sources to gain a better understanding of the right to education.
Recommended reading includes:
International Legal Standards on the Right to Education
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 1
RTE (2014), 10 Human Rights Standards for Education Privatisation
Fons Coomans and Antenor Hallo de Wolf (2005) ‘Privatisation of Education and
the Right to Education’ in Koen de Feyter and Felipe Gomez Isa (eds), Privatisation
and Human Rights in the Age of Globalisation, Intersentia, Antwerp-Oxford
Bailey Grey (2012) Using Human Rights Standards to Assess Privatisation of
Education in Africa.
Facilitators should review all slides and notes and decide if any of the sessions should be
adjusted.
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CESCR Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
PERI Privatisation of Education Research Initiative
RTE Right to Education Project
UN United Nations
LIST OF ACRONYMS
Materials:
Session PowerPoint slides with laptop / projector
Session hand-outs
Flip chart paper and markers
The session hand-outs are:
A. International Legal Standards on the Right to Education
B. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 1
C. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13
D. Case Study – Lagos, Nigeria (which is located at the end of this document)
It may be helpful to assign pre-course reading to participants to familiarise them with the
topics and legal tools that they will be using in the training. The following list is ranked in
order of importance:
1. RTE (2014), 10 Human Rights Standards for Education Privatisation
2. UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13
3. International Legal Standards on the Right to Education
These suggested pre-course reading pieces may also serve as valuable hand-outs during
the training.
Additional Resources:
Right to Education Project (2014) Privatisation of Education: Global Trends of
Human Rights Impacts
Right to Education Project webpage on privatisation
Privatisation in Education Research Initiative website
Right to Education Project 2014 5
15 minutes
1. Introduction
2. Objectives
After a round of participant introductions, read Slide # 2 on Objectives and go over the
agenda with participants.
25 – 30 minutes
Note to Facilitators: This session as well as session # D covers some technical legal
information on the right to education. Although these sessions may seem to be written in
‘legalese’ (or with legal jargon), it is crucial to understanding how to use a human rights
based approach. However, one of the great strengths of human rights is that it is and
remains a shared and binding language, where great importance is attached to
standardised definitions and universal norms.
The module has been developed to introduce basic and essential information on the right to
education and to be aimed at and delivered by non-legally trained education actors.
Although there is a minimum amount of presentation, much of the following sessions will
draw from learning in this section. All of the informational hand-outs (i.e., those that are
not exercises) should be available to the participants throughout the module as a reference.
It may be useful to assign pre-course reading to participants, which may lead to richer
discussions.
3. What Are Human Rights?
Optional: Ask participants to answer the question what are human rights before putting up
the slide and engage with them in some discussion (for 5-10 minutes) about what human
rights are and where they come from. Do not be too worried about accuracy or historical
facts. It helps participants to explore their own national histories to explain the origin of
rights and to talk about the spirit and intentions of human rights.
A. OPENING AND INTRODUCTIONS
B. INTRODUCTION TO THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
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Then read the slide and explain that these legal standards are set out in treaties and other
legal documents. It is important to note that although these standards are widely accepted,
there continues to be political resistance in implementing human rights at the national level.
A number of barriers exist – such as political will, limited resources, limited understanding,
etc. It is, therefore, up to us as active citizens to hold States accountable through our
activism, campaigning & policy work.
There are several common principles to human rights. All human rights are:
Universal – that means that human rights apply to all human beings, as they are
inherent to us from birth
Indivisible – which means that all rights have equal status and cannot be put into a
hierarchy or implemented in part
Inter-related and Inter-dependent – which means that all rights have a relationship
with one another. For example, you cannot talk about the right to vote without
considering the right to education or the right to life without the right to health. The
right to education is related to all rights since it is necessary to enjoy the right to
education in order to learn about other rights.
4. Equality and Non-Discrimination
All human rights are subject to the principle of non-discrimination, which prohibits any
distinction, exclusion or limitation based on the listed grounds. States guarantee these
rights without discrimination of any kind on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
This list is flexible (e.g., ‘other status’) and will vary at the national level.
Optional Discussion Question: What are the marginalised groups in your country that are not
listed on the slide?
Non-discrimination is not a free-standing right – it is read into other substantive rights. So,
if a girl is being denied access to education, we say it is a violation of the right to education
on the grounds of gender. It is important to note which marginalised groups exist in your
country and to be aware of the multiple layers of discrimination (i.e., when individuals
experience discrimination on multiple grounds). Often, when an individual or group fits into
multiple categorisation grounds, then the more extreme the marginalisation tends to be.
Note on understanding the difference between non-discrimination / equality and equity: The
socio-political term ‘equity’ is often confused with equality and non-discrimination within
the education and development sector. Equity is not a legal term. It is a socio-political term
that is generally used to refer to a sense of fairness and concern for marginalised groups.
Sometimes, because it is not a standardised or legal term, it can be used in a deliberately
reductive way to emphasise equality of opportunity rather than substantive de facto
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equality and the reduction of disparities of outcome, which are the primary concerns from a
human rights perspective. Therefore, equity often means fairness in the distribution of
benefits and opportunities; whereas, equality refers to the substantive equality of both
opportunity and results with full protection under the law. Non-discrimination is the
prohibition of distinctions based on impermissible grounds that have the effect or purpose
of impairing the enjoyment of rights. When using a human rights based approach, it is
preferable to use the legal terms of equality and non-discrimination, since these terms are
standardised.
5. The Right to Education in Law
The right to education is a widely accepted human right which can be found in a number of
international and regional human rights treaties, as well as in many national constitutions.
Some of the core international treaties that protect international law include:
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education
Most States have ratified either the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) or the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) or both. These two
treaties serve as the main instruments in law for the right to education. In addition, it is
protected by a number of regional treaties. Some examples include:
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights, Protocol of San Salvador
Revised European Social Charter
Protocol 1 to the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms
For a more complete list, please refer to Hand-out A: International Legal Standards on the
Right to Education
6. What Is the Right to Education?
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Education is a universally recognised human right in international law. As well as being a
right in itself, it is an enabler of other rights, fostering empowerment, access to information,
economic growth, creativity, and understanding among peoples and nations.
The right to education encompasses all levels of education – including primary, secondary
and technical / vocational, higher and fundamental education and stresses the importance
of lifelong learning. The right to education at each level includes:
Everyone has the right to free and compulsory primary education.
Secondary and technical /vocational education should be available and accessible
and progressively free to all.
Higher education should be equally accessible based on capacity and progressively
made free.
Fundamental education, aimed at those who did not have access to or did not
complete primary education, should be encouraged.
Finally, the State must develop a system of education (usually through a ministry of
education) that ensures that the material conditions of teaching are continuously
improved and that the equality of educational access for individuals from
disadvantaged groups is enhanced.
7. What Are the Aims of Education?
The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out a number of principles with regards to
the Aims of Education (or the purpose of education) which must enable individuals to
develop the personalities, talents and abilities to live a full and satisfying life within society.
These aims include:
The full development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical
abilities
The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
The development of respect for the child’s parents, cultural identity, language and
values, as well as respect for the values of the child’s country and other civilisations
The development of the child’s responsibilities in a free society, including
understanding, peace, tolerance, equality, and friendship among all persons and
groups
The development of respect for the natural environment.
The right to education, therefore, encompasses a broad and comprehensive understanding
of education. The Aims of Education have a direct link to the delivery of quality education,
as these aims must be embedded in the curricula and teaching methods. In addition, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child further stipulates that the best interests of children
must be the primary concern in making decisions that affect them. For a deeper
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understanding of the Aims of Education, please see Hand-out B – UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child, General Comment 1.
8. The 4As
The right to education goes beyond access to education, as it encompasses essential
characteristics, which, according to law, must be exhibited in all forms of education. They
are commonly referred to as the 4As:
Availability - that education is free and available to all and that there is adequate
infrastructure and trained teachers able to support education delivery
Accessibility – that the education system is non-discriminatory and accessible to all and
that positive steps are taken to include the most marginalised
Acceptability – that the content of education is relevant, non-discriminatory, culturally
appropriate, and of good quality; that the school itself is safe and teachers are
professional
Adaptability - that education can evolve with the changing needs of society and
contribute to challenging inequalities, such as gender discrimination, and that it can be
adapted locally to suit specific contexts.
These inter-related elements are each equally essential and should be holistically applied.
9. Educational Freedoms
Private provision of education is protected in international law as an educational freedom.
Private actors have the liberty to establish and direct educational institutions. This means
that private actors may open schools and administer them according to their own
educational philosophies. This is subject to the requirement that these private providers
meet the minimum standards that are laid down by the State. These minimum standards
are deliberately left open for States to individually determine. However, States must ensure
that these standards comply with international human rights law. So, the State is ultimately
required to ensure that the right to education is realised for all, even if a portion of the
education provision is provided by private or non-State actors.
Parents also have the freedom to choose schools other than public schools for their children
if they wish to do so. The educational choice of parents and students is an important
educational freedom. It ensures that families can choose education that is in line with their
moral and religious convictions. States must respect this right but they are not obliged to
provide educational choice for parents and students. There is a direct relationship between
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these educational freedoms, as parents and students must rely on the State to ensure that
private educational institutions are meeting minimum standards.
Note: Human rights law does not dictate who the provider of education should be. Human
rights law, however, acknowledges that the State is likely to be the direct provider in most
circumstances. Human rights law recognises and acknowledges that education may be
provided by a number of providers but the State has the responsibility to ensure that
education provision complies with international law.
25 – 30 minutes
10. Definitions
Before discussing privatisation in detail, there are a few definitions that require clarification.
Read the definitions on the slide to the participants.
States have the duty to respect, protect and fulfil rights, which includes ensuring access to
certain services, such as education. Although the State must ensure access to services,
international law does not require that governments must own or directly provide the
service. Nor does international law say that human rights are best achieved through a
particular economic or political system. As discussed with slide # 9, private education is
protected in human rights law. Though human rights law acknowledges that the State is
likely to be the direct provider of education in most circumstances, privatisation – i.e., the
process – is left open. In other words, the act of privatising may be acceptable in human
rights law, as long as States continue to fulfil their obligations. However, this process of
privatising raises a number of human rights concerns which will be explored throughout this
training.
Discussion questions: In small groups, discuss the following questions (10 - 15 minutes). This
session may be extended to allow more discussion time, if needed:
What is the relationship between private education, which is protected in law, and
the privatisation process?
What are some of the human rights concerns with privatisation?
11. Human Rights Concerns
The responses from the discussion can be compared to some of the concerns listed on
Slide # 11, but participants may have identified many concerns that are not listed on this
slide. Some general concerns about privatisation of services from a human rights
perspective, include:
C. WHAT IS PRIVATISATION?
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1. Protecting rights – All policies, including privatisation policies, must protect
rights and be aimed at the constant improvement of the people with their active
and free participation. The basic elements of rights, including access to basic
services, should not be compromised.
2. Regulation – The State must regulate the conduct of the industry or service
through a clear and transparent regulatory framework.
3. Ensuring access is maintained – States must fulfil rights progressively. Failure to
do so may lead to informal alternatives, including unregulated private sector
expansion
4. Ensuring non-discrimination – States must ensure non-discrimination in both
access and outcome of privatised services and intervene if necessary
5. Assessing impact – States must assess the human rights impact if services are to
be privatised.
6. Transparency – Privatisation processes must be open, fair and transparent
7. Best interests of the child – The best interests of children should be the primary
concern when decisions are made that affects them, including budgetary and
policy decisions.
12. How is Education Privatised?
Education may be privatised through the direct policies taken by the State, e.g., if the
government hires a private company to take over the management of a public school. In
some cases, privatisation may be less a result of policy but may be due to a lack of clear
policy regarding private sector expansion, such as with the expansion of unregulated private
schools in neighbourhoods that are under-serviced or do not have access to nearby public
schools.
There are many different types of private schools and types of arrangements that play a role
in privatisation, and perhaps there are far too many to list. However the Privatisation in
Education Research Initiative (PERI) lists several ‘models’ on their website:
1. For Profit Schools – Schools designed to return a profit to shareholders or owners
2. Public Private Partnerships (PPP) – Flexible governance and financial arrangements
between governments and private sector to provide public services
3. Low Fee Schools – Fee-based education provided by either large or small
entrepreneurs, which is either profit-making or not profit-making
4. Private Tutoring – Ancillary or additional lessons privately provided outside of
normal school hours
5. Philanthropy Schools – Private initiatives in education that aim to work for the
public good that are led by self-funded philanthropic organisations
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At this point the facilitator may ask for more examples from the participants to deepen the
discussion, but bear in mind that the module will explore the ways in which privatisation is
occurring at the local level later in the programme.
2 hours
13. The Nature of State Obligations
The State is the primary duty-bearer, carrying the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that
the right to education is upheld. Others, such as private actors, have responsibilities to
ensure that they do not jeopardise human rights, but it is the State that must protect
individuals and groups from potential violations.
The State is obliged to respect, protect and fulfil rights, according to international law:
Respect – Respecting rights means that the State does not interfere with the
exercise of rights, e.g., States must not limit access to education or impose
discriminatory practices.
Protect – Protecting rights means that the State must ensure that others do not
interfere with the exercise of rights, primarily through effective regulation and legal
guarantees, e.g., monitoring private schools or ensuring teachers have qualifications
Fulfil – Fulfilling rights means that the State must take positive action to facilitate the
enjoyment of rights. This means that the State must promote rights, facilitate access
to rights and provide for those who cannot do so for themselves, e.g., responding to
the marginalised, facilitating community engagement, and developing an education
plan.
14. Progressive Realisation
Progressive realisation is a central aspect of all economic and social rights, including
education, which is based on the recognition that not all States can fully realise all aspects of
economic and social rights due to the limited availability of resources. Progressive
realisation, therefore, is a means of ensuring States fulfil their obligations to fully realise
rights over time and take appropriate measures in light of resource limitations.
Progressive realisation is achieved by:
Taking immediate, deliberate, concrete and progressive steps using the maximum
of available resources. A lack of resources does not mean that States can postpone
the implementation of the right to education. Rather, they must demonstrate that
D. WHAT ARE THE STATE’S OBLIGATIONS?
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they are making every effort to utilise existing resources, including through tax
policies and international aid opportunities.
Ensuring minimum core obligations regardless of resources. These are the
essential levels of the right to education, which includes free and compulsory
primary education, the allocation of resources in a non-discriminatory manner,
developing a national education plan, and ensuring national minimum standards.
Avoiding retrogressive or backwards steps in realising rights, e.g., if a State has
implemented free secondary education for all and later rescinds this progressive
step, then this would be a retrogressive step. International law strongly prohibits
retrogression in the realisation of rights.
Group Exercise:
Understanding Human Rights Standards
1 hour (30 minutes in groups; 30 minutes of feedback but more time can be added, if
necessary)
This exercise will introduce participants to human rights legal sources and provide an
opportunity to identify human rights standards from legal sources.
Background Information: Before the participants begin this exercise, the hand-out for this
exercise may need to be explained to the participants:
CESCR General Comment 13 is a piece of international human rights law on the right to
education. It was developed by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (CESCR), which is a monitoring body of the UN made up of independent
experts. A general comment provides further detail and explanation of international law –
in this case, the right to education. The general comment provides additional guidance to
States and explains, in this case, a particular provision of the International Covenant of
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The general comment explains the normative
definition of the right to education, some legal obligations of States in relation to the right
to education and guidance on identifying violations. Altogether, this information outlines
human rights standards for the right to education.
In groups of 4 – 5, participants will identify human rights standards in a section of Hand-out
C – UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13.
Participants should be divided into groups of 4 – 5 and assigned a section of the hand-out to
review (suggested divisions of the hand-out are below):
Group 1 – paragraphs 4 – 10 (Note: this group has the 4As, so when reviewing the 4 As, be sure to
not just list the 4As themselves, but try to break down the definitions of each A into a list of
standards or requirements of the State)
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Group 2 – paragraphs 11 – 20 (Note: if there are only four groups, then Group 2’s reading can be
dropped in order to maintain the reading for Groups 3 – 5)
Group 3 – paragraphs 21 – 30
Group 4 – paragraphs 31 – 42
Group 5 – paragraphs 49 - 57
Participants should begin the assignment by silently reading their section of the hand-out
and discuss what they have read in groups. They should try to identify as many of the
human rights standards as they can. To identify these standards, try to think about what the
State must do or what the State must ensure based on what is written in the general
comment. Each group should note the standards from their section of the hand-out in a
bulleted list on flip chart paper. The groups will need approximately 30 minutes to meet and
discuss in groups. After the groups identify the human rights standards from their sections,
each group should share the standards that they identified with the larger group of
participants. Comments on the standards can be made during the group presentations.
15. Free Education
Discussion question: Before putting up slide # 13, ask participants to identify standards
from the group exercise that they felt related to privatisation. This can be done as a wider
group discussion (5 – 10 minutes, or longer for a deeper discussion). Participants are likely
to identify some of the human rights standards covered in this session, such as free
education, non-discrimination, quality, monitoring, financing, etc.
There are several human rights standards that cover the issue of free education, which are
broken down according to the education level:
Primary education must be free and compulsory to all. The push for free primary
education is based on the notion that real developmental change in a country can
only occur when there is universal free education. Free education challenges many
of the barriers to education and ensures that every child is provided with equal
opportunities. For those States that have not yet achieved universal free primary
education, access to free universal primary education that is of good quality must be
the priority.
Secondary education should be available and accessible and made progressively
free. The drive to progressively achieve universal free secondary education is
intended to help States transition from secondary education that is dependent on
capacity to a means of developing the foundations for life-long learning and greater
economic stability.
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Higher education should be accessible and made progressively free. Although
access to higher education is based on capacity and not everyone should necessarily
attend higher education, there is a strong push for the elimination of fees.
Education is seen as a public good and fees are likely to create barriers and
disparities, particularly along socio-economic lines.
Private schools often rely on charging fees in order to cover costs and in some cases make a
profit. According to human rights law, private schools may charge fees, as long as free
primary education that is of good quality is available and steps are being taken to
progressively introduce free secondary education. Thus, fee-paying education is an
alternative choice for parents.
16. Equality and Non-Discrimination
As discussed earlier, non-discrimination prohibits any distinction, exclusion or limitation
based on the listed grounds that were covered at the start of this training. Discrimination
includes any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference that has the purpose or effect of
nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education. Some examples of discrimination
include the deprivation of access to education, providing education that is of an inferior
standard, maintaining segregated educational institutions, or inflicting conditions which are
incompatible with human dignity.
Private education that caters to single sex or a specific religious or linguistic group is
considered to be acceptable if it is not aimed at the exclusion of any group but is an
alternative choice for parents and students. States must ensure that extreme disparities
between public education and private education are not created.
17. Monitoring and Regulation
The State must establish minimum standards for private education providers and maintain a
transparent and effective system to monitor these standards. These minimum standards,
which are set by States at the national level, must comply with international human rights
standards.
An effective monitoring system will ensure that all private schools are registered and held
accountable for minimum standards, which may include regulations regarding admissions,
teaching, curricula, learning outcomes, non-discrimination, child protection, labour
standards, school infrastructure, and school governance. Through a monitoring system,
data can be collected on private schools, which can be used to inform national and local
policies and plans. Monitoring can also be used to identify potential violations of the right
to education, such as extreme disparities in education opportunities for some groups that
Right to Education Project 2014 16
may otherwise go undetected. Through a transparent and independent monitoring system,
parents may have access to more accurate and unbiased information regarding private
schools, which will aid in making decisions when choosing education for their children.
Most importantly, monitoring creates a culture of accountability and an opportunity for
parents, teachers and students to raise concerns that are not being adequately addressed
by the private school providers themselves.
18. Education Financing
There is a lot of pressure on States to increase access to education and to improve learning
outcomes and the quality of education more generally. Over the last decade, significant
increases in access to education have been largely due to increased State funding and
international aid directed towards investing in public education. However, many States fall
short of UNESCO’s recommended education targets (6% of GDP and 20% of the budget),
and issues concerning access and quality remain high on the global policy agenda.
States must ensure that they maintain their minimum core obligations (e.g., universal free
primary education) and continue to take progressive steps to fully realise the right to
education (e.g., introducing free secondary education or making improvements to quality).
Failure by States to take continuous steps towards implementing the full realisation of the
right to education may lead to informal alternatives, such as unregulated private schools or
shortfalls in increasing provision or quality education targets. In addition, policy-makers
may seek solutions to unmet education targets through private sector provision. Therefore,
there is a direct relationship between education financing and privatisation.
19. Continuous Improvements to Quality
Proponents of privatisation often state that private education is better quality than public
education, and in fact, many parents choose private schools because they feel that private
schools are able to offer better quality of education. The debate over quality between
public and private schools is one that should be scrutinised carefully, particularly concerning
the reliability of data being used to make such claims.
However, all education – whether public or private – must be of good quality, according to
international human rights law. Therefore, the education quality debate should focus more
on ensuring that both public and private schools are meeting minimum standards.
According to human rights law, these standards focus heavily on the material conditions of
teaching, rather than on outcomes. This is achieved through effective monitoring and
regulation of all education. Some key human rights standards for education quality include
ensuring:
Right to Education Project 2014 17
Trained and qualified teachers receiving domestically competitive salaries with
regular opportunities for continuing education
Access to appropriate learning materials for both teachers and students
Relevant and culturally appropriate curricula and child-centred teaching methods
that adapt to the changing needs of society and respond to the needs of students
within their diverse social and cultural settings
Non-discrimination in education delivery that seeks to promote human rights
principles, such as tolerance, dignity, equality and peace
Adequate school infrastructure, including acceptable learning conditions, access to
drinking water, sanitation facilities, protection from the elements, etc.
Positive approaches to school discipline and a safe environment
20. Participation and Transparency
The right to education includes a strong element of participation, as education prepares
children for the responsibilities of life in a free society and serves as a vehicle through which
children learn about civic participation. An education system that supports community
engagement and values participation from all education stakeholders is ultimately more
likely to support a more positive learning environment and contribute towards a country’s
overall development. Parents, teachers, educationalists and community leaders should be
empowered to participate in decision-making processes at the school level for both public
and private schools. Participation helps to ensure greater accountability of educational
policies and practices.
Privatisation programmes should be open and transparent and should include the
participation of the affected community. States should take care to avoid creating
imbalances of power between private actors and communities through experimental
privatisation programmes.
21. Effective Remedies
The right to an effective remedy forms part of the human rights framework, and States must
ensure that effective remedies are available in order to address violations. This includes the
right to access a national court or tribunal but also extends to reparations, which may
include compensation. The right to education should be incorporated into national legal
domestic systems, including the national constitution, legislation, and the judicial system.
Consequently, any violations on the right to education pertaining to private education can
be addressed through the national or sub-national (provincial) legal system.
Right to Education Project 2014 18
1.5 hours (1 hour in groups; 30 minutes of feedback but the timing can be adjusted, if
necessary)
Group Exercise:
Situation Analysis
The case study is a direct excerpt from a Save the Children publication and it provides some
facts obtained through research concerning privatisation. Hand-out D: Case Study –Lagos,
Nigeria (which can be found at the end of this document) provides a summary of key
findings of data collected through detailed surveys that were undertaken by Save the
Children in two large slum communities in Lagos, Nigeria, concerning low-cost private
schools. Each group will work on the same case study; however, facilitators may consider
using additional case studies from their own experiences.
In groups of 4-5 participants will review the assigned case study and discuss the following
questions: (Note: participants may wish to use General Comment 13 to help identify
relevant human rights standards)
a) Based on the evidence provided in the case study, what are the key human rights
standards that are impacted or affected by privatisation (i.e., the transfer of services
from public to private) in this case study?
b) Are there pre-existing human rights issues / concerns (e.g., poor public education
provision) that may not be a result of privatisation but that should be raised in the
context of privatisation? Participants may need to make some assumptions on this
question about the existing conditions in Lagos.
c) In order to formulate rights-based advocacy arguments, what further information
could be researched? (i.e., what additional information is needed to strengthen a
human rights case?)
Groups should write their answers to these questions on flip chart paper. Once the groups
have completed the assignment, each group should provide a brief summary of the case
study and share their answers with the wider group.
1.5 hours (1 hour in groups; 30 minutes of feedback but the timing can be adjusted, if
necessary)
E. APPLYING HUMAN RIGHTS
F. PRIVATISATION IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Right to Education Project 2014 19
Group Discussion:
Privatisation in Your Community
In small groups (or alternatively this discussion can be facilitated by the trainer and carried
out as one large group discussion), participants will discuss the following questions:
a) How is privatisation taking place in your country / community? (Note: participants
may wish to revisit Slide # 12, which lists some models highlighted on the PERI
website, as a reference or starting point; also, the facilitator may wish to review the
definition of privatisation to remind participants of the difference between private
education and privatisation)
b) What are the specific policy measures or practices by the government (in lieu of
explicit policies) on education privatisation? What is the government’s position on
privatisation?
c) What are the human rights impacts or concerns? Based on observation or existing
data, where is the State failing to protect the right to education in the context of
increasing privatisation? (Note: be sure to link these impacts to human rights
standards)
d) What research or evidence is required to back up and demonstrate these concerns?
The discussion should lead participants to consider what type of research is required to
uncover the human rights impacts of privatisation and help to highlight how organisations
can focus their resources and attention to address privatisation that may be negatively
impacting the right to education. The responses to the questions should be recorded, as
this discussion can be used to plan next steps for action.
1 hour (the timing can be adjusted, if necessary)
22. Gathering Evidence
In this final session, we explore human rights based responses to privatisation of education
and consider some actions that civil society can take to challenge the negative impacts of
privatisation, which can be used in planning future actions.
In the first instance, it is essential to gather the evidence of the negative impacts of
privatisation on the right to education. This can be achieved by utilising existing data or
research and applying human rights analysis or in some cases it requires gathering data
from the field.
Another good starting point is to analyse government policy documents that support and
promote privatisation using human rights standards to check that the policies are human
G. A HUMAN RIGHTS RESPONSE TO PRIVATISATION
Right to Education Project 2014 20
rights compliant. This approach focuses less on impact, but it can be very effective as a
starting point for discussion with policy-makers. Also, it requires fewer resources. Another
possibility is to influence or encourage others, such as academics or research institutes, to
conduct research.
23. Gathering Evidence: Example
Human rights research typically involves an examination of quantitative data for educational
outcome indicators against the policy measures taken and the international human rights
standards to ascertain the human rights violations or deprivations. This type of research
could draw a direct line between the effects of privatisation and the responsibilities of the
State. It requires identifying the outcome and policy indicators as well as the corresponding
human rights standards. This slide shows an example of this type of research covering the
topic of teacher salaries and teacher qualifications and comparing between the outcomes
(i.e., the actual salaries and level of qualifications of teachers), the policies (i.e., the State
requirements for both public and private school teachers), and the corresponding human
rights standards (i.e., more specifically, the remuneration and qualification standards for
teachers).
24. Inquiry
Many organisations have not engaged on the topic of privatisation and in fact some
governments have not published policy positions regarding the privatisation of education.
Therefore, activities to seek information and to inquire about the government’s
privatisation policies and the impacts of these policies can be a good way to open up the
dialogue with the government and raise awareness about the issue. In addition, it may help
to establish civil society’s role as a key stakeholder in decisions regarding privatisation, as
many governments have not opened up dialogue outside of the private business sector.
25. Developing a Campaign
There are many ways to develop a rights-based campaign to challenge privatisation, and this
training module will not go into great detail on campaign strategies. However, through a
well-considered campaign plan, civil society can have a significant influence over
government policies and practices. Effective campaigning begins with good planning and
the basis of most campaign plans includes identifying:
1. Objectives – What is the change that you want to make?
2. Targets – Who are the decision-makers on this issue? Who else can influence the
decision-makers as secondary targets?
3. Messages – What is the message aimed at your targets?
Right to Education Project 2014 21
4. Tactics – What tactics will you use to bring about change, e.g., direct lobbying,
media, etc.?
With rights-based campaigning, it’s important to ensure that your messages are clearly
linked with human rights standards and that rights-holders and affected communities play
an active role in claiming their rights.
Group Discussion / Exercise:
Taking Action to Challenge Privatisation
In small groups (or as one large group) discuss the following questions about taking action
to challenge privatisation:
What are the first steps as civil society that we need to take to challenge
privatisation that threatens the right to education?
What are some of the main challenges to engaging on this topic? How can we
overcome these challenges?
What are the main priorities for protecting the right to education in the face of
increasing privatisation? Who should be involved and in what ways?
How can we hold the government accountable for its human rights obligations in
relation to education privatisation?
Consider adding further discussion questions or altering the session to serve as a campaign
planning session. Alternatively, the participants may be divided back into the groups used
for the situation analysis exercise and can devise a campaign strategy answering the
questions on slide # 25 for their assigned case study.
This session should be tailored according to the needs of the participants and the
facilitator’s experience and style. It may be helpful to reflect on what participants have
learned and what they will take from this training module and apply in their work, as a
means of encouraging next steps. The facilitator may also share additional resources on the
topic for further research, which are listed on the final slide.
H. CONCLUSIONS AND WRAP-UP
Right to Education Project 2014 22
All excerpts below taken directly from: The Potential of Low-Cost Community Private Schools
to Boost Children’s Education in Lagos, Save the Children, May 2013
Summary of key findings1
Context
Despite having the second highest GDP of any African country, Nigeria has 10 million
children out of school (UNESCO, 2012). Although policy commitments and education
planning frameworks have improved in recent years, State investment in education is low,
with only 8.3% of the national budget allocated to education, against the 26%
recommended by UNESCO (Abayomi, 2012). In recent years, indications of a private school
sector in urban areas of Nigeria and other middle income African countries, which is
apparently thriving in comparison to the government school sector, have led to speculation
that investing in private education may produce faster progress towards reaching Education
for All targets than focusing only on government schools would.
Poverty
70% of people surveyed were living on less than 77 US cents a day in overcrowded
conditions.
Water and sanitation and early childcare and development support were major gaps
in families’ lives.
Access to education
74% of children were not being served by government schools.
Demand for preschool, primary and secondary education was extremely high across
parents and children.
The majority of children were in private pre- or primary school, although it was not
possible to reliably determine how many were out of school.
High numbers of low-cost, unapproved private schools are operating –
approximately one per 60 children.
1 This research is based on data collected through detailed surveys that were undertaken in two large slum communities in
Lagos, Nigeria.
CASE STUDY: LOW FEE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
Right to Education Project 2014 23
Girls were found to have equal presence in private schools with boys; but there were
indications that boys had better access to government schools.
Access of children with disabilities to school appeared very low.
Only 7% of children 14 or under were in government secondary school.
Cost of education
62% of parents were charged an average four cents a day in tuition fees by private
schools, with 26% paying more than 83 cents a day. School food fees were also
charged across private and government schools, taking the average charge to $1.30
USD per day.
A household with two school-age children was being charged on average 30% of its
income for school fees, outside any other costs such as books. Some parents
reported prostitution and going without food to pay school fees.
Head teachers reported that the majority of parents had not paid fees.
Up to half of parents were estimated to be subsidising the school fees of other
parents.
Quality of learning environments
Very little evidence of good quality physical environments or teaching was found in
private or public schools. A very small minority of private schools was reaching basic
standards of education provision.
Class sizes in government schools were on average 34 students, with 25 students in
private schools. Private school class sizes ranged from two to more than 100.
A severe lack of sanitation and light, poor child protection and very limited supply of
reading and learning materials were widespread across private schools. Water and
sanitation was a major challenge in all types of school.
The space in most private schools was very small, and did not fit the number of
children.
Supply of books was low, and access to other learning aids was extremely poor.
Parents, children and teachers had clear and consistent views of what made good
quality teaching and learning.
Across all schools, teachers used a limited number of methods, with wide variations
in performance across private schools.
The teaching standards observed in private schools fell much lower than those
observed in government schools. Teachers in government schools showed more
Right to Education Project 2014 24
signs of active teaching, but were observed to pay less attention to the majority of
children.
Teachers’ lack of confidence in working with children with disabilities suggests that
inclusion should be a key focus of efforts to improve teaching quality.
Safety and protection
Parents and children consistently raised corporal punishment as a problem. 20% of
teachers were observed to routinely use the threat of corporal punishment, with
several of them beating children in the presence of observers.
Only 25% of private schools provided access to toilets, handwashing and drinking
water. 72% of private schools had toilets, against 92% of government schools. (In
government schools, handwashing and drinking water were not in evidence.)
11% of private schools were observed not to monitor children (often as young as
four) exiting the building, raising safety concerns.
Accountability
Reported parental engagement in private schools was strong. Despite this, parents’
reported dissatisfaction on corporal punishment and access to books suggested that
more support is needed to help families secure the education they want from
schools.
Poor trust in government teachers was consistently reported by parents, particularly
in relation to strikes.
Parents were split between those who valued private schools’ greater
responsiveness, versus those who felt government schools gave better teaching at
lower cost.
Lack of access to examinations and certification of achievements is a key feature of
families being forced to use informal low-cost private schools.
Management of private schools
Wide variations in space per child, class sizes, materials, teaching activity and
pupil/teacher ratios indicated that no consistent professional standards were
applied.
Teachers in private schools reported relatively good salaries.
Senior government officials reported willingness to provide low-cost private schools
with teacher training, materials, networking and management support.
Right to Education Project 2014 25
Prospects for future support to low-cost private schools
Private school owners and teachers were making efforts to provide some of the
conditions for quality education. This suggests that, given greater resources and
technical support, private schools may have the capacity to improve their
performances.
A range of stakeholders identified major problems with expanding the capacity of
government schools to serve the poorest slum areas.
Government stakeholders were positive about extending greater support to private
schools in slum areas, particularly in terms of technical and material inputs.
Relatively good private teacher motivation indicated that there is a pool of teachers
available who could benefit from increased training.
Expansion in government secondary school capacity is likely to become an urgent
demand in slum areas.